Amit Shah meets core teams for Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra

NEW DELHI: BJP chief Amit Shah was back to doing what he is best known for preparing the party roadmap for elections. On Sunday, he held meetings at the party headquarters here with state unit core groups of Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra where Assembly elections are to be held later this year.
Since the Lok Sabha election results were announced on May 23, Shah has been busy assisting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in government formation and then taking over the reins of the Home Ministry.

On Sunday, he got down to chalking the broad strategy for the three poll-bound states where the party will fight to retain power.

The BJP President will also hold a meeting on June 13 with all state unit presidents and state general secretaries (Organisation) to kick start the process of holding organisational elections in the run-up to the election of his successor. At least half of the BJP state units should have completed their organisational elections before the new president is chosen, according to the party Constitution. Shah’s term got over in January this year but he was given an extension till the Lok Sabha elections.

With roughly 100 days to go before the election dates are announced in the second week of September for Maharashtra and Haryana, BJP has got into the act. Jharkhand elections are due in November but may be clubbed with these two states.

Before the Lok Sabha polls, there was a perception that BJP governments in Haryana and Jharkhand were facing strong anti-incumbency.

However, with the party performing well in the two states in Lok Sabha polls, its prospects of getting a consecutive term are arguably higher. In Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine is said to be a strong wicket.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar led the state unit team that met Shah on Sunday. Others present include former steel minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh, Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishna Pal Gujjar, and Haryana ministers Anil Vij, Captain Abhimanyu and OP Dhankar.

BJP is buoyant after winning all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.